JACKSON – Justin Henry had a night to remember, and the Ole Miss Rebels may have found the spark to propel them out of a recent funk.

Henry, who starred at Vicksburg High, had a pair of hits, including an inside-the-park home run, and provided several key defensive plays in an 8-3 victory over in-state rival Southern Miss at Smith-Wills Stadium in Jackson.

“Coming off a losing series, you always want to get a win to give you confidence going into a weekend series,” said Henry, who was starting his second game of the season. “This was definitely a big game for us.”

The victory gave the Rebels (25-12) a 2-1 season series win over the Golden Eagles.

“This one stings,” Southern Miss catcher Kevin Coker said. “The score was 8-3, but we had plenty of chances tonight. We had chances to get up on them, but we didn’t get it done.”

Southern Miss fell behind 5-0 with three runs in the second and two in the third. The burst chased Southern Miss starting pitcher Cole Basinger, who took the loss.

“I have lost count of the amount of times we have been down in the second or third inning big,” Eagles coach Corky Palmer said. “I believe we have a fine offense, but we are always down. We do not pitch and defend the field the way you have to to be consistent.

“… The problem with our team is that we are one-dimensional. If we don’t score seven, eight or nine runs, we don’t win ballgames.”

Trailing 5-2 in the seventh, Southern Miss got an RBI single from Jody Blount to cut the lead to two. Marc Maddox then singled to put runners on first and third with one out.

After Ole Miss brought in Tommy Baumgardner in relief, he coaxed a slow roller to Henry at second base. Henry tagged out Maddox, then nipped Sutton at first for an inning-ending double play.

“For all intents and purposes, that was probably the game,” Palmer said. “The momentum was killed on our side.”

Ole Miss added a run in the eighth and put the game away in the top of the ninth.

With pinch-runner Cooper Osteen on first, Henry ripped a shot to the wall in right centerfield. He rounded second and was headed for a triple when he saw the third base coach waving him home. Southern Miss’ shortstop and second baseman collided, allowing Henry to score easily.

“When I hit it I was thinking triple,” said Henry, who added that it was the first inside-the-park home run he can remember hitting “When I got toward third and saw coach (Stuart) Lake waving me in, I was like, ‘what happened out there?’

“I got in the dugout and they told me inside-the park home run, and I was like, ‘how in the world?'”

Coker, who played at Warren Central, singled in the ninth as the Eagles (27-9) put two runners on base, but Stephen Head, the last of the Rebels’ seven pitchers, got Blount to ground into a double play to end the game.

MSU 10, S. Alabama 6

Brad Jones went 4-for-5 with a double, home run and three RBIs, and Brian LaNinfa drove in three runs to lead Mississippi State past South Alabama in the first game of a two-game series in Mobile, Ala.

Jeffrey Rea also homered for the Bulldogs (24-10), who scored five runs in the fifth inning to take the lead for good.

South Alabama (24-15) had single runs in the seventh and eighth to cut it to 7-6, but LaNinfa’s two-run double keyed a three-run rally in the ninth that put it away for Mississippi State.